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Life-Like - 7878 - Locomotive, Steam, 2-8-4 Berkshire - Virginian - 508

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N Scale - Life-Like - 7878 - Locomotive, Steam, 2-8-4 Berkshire - Virginian - 508
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Stock Number7878
Original Retail Price$365.00
BrandLife-Like
ManufacturerLife-Like
Body StyleLife-Like Steam Engine 2-8-4 Van Sweringen
Prototype VehicleLocomotive, Steam, 2-8-4 Berkshire (Details)
Road or Company NameVirginian (Details)
Road or Reporting Number508
Paint Color(s)Black
Print Color(s)Gold
Coupler TypeAccuMate Magnetic Knuckle
Coupler MountBody-Mount
Wheel TypeChemically Blackened Metal
Wheel ProfileSmall Flange (Low Profile)
DCC ReadinessNo
Release Date2005-01-01
Item CategoryLocomotives
Model TypeSteam
Model Subtype2-8-4
Model VarietyBerkshire Van Sweringen
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era II: Late Steam (1901 - 1938)
Scale1/160



Model Information: Life-Like first introduced this model in 2004; it was re-run in 2005 and 2006.

Features
  • Over 50 Hand-Applied Detail Parts
  • Outstanding Laser-Sharp Printing
  • Authentic Painting & Lettering
  • Electrical Pick-Up from Locomotive Drivers and Tender Wheels
Performance
  • Slow Speed Less Than 5 Scale Miles Per Hour
  • Weighted for Maximum Tractive Effort
  • Blackened Nickel-Silver Wheels with RP25 Wheel Contours
  • Current Draw at 12 Volts, No Load, Level Track Less Than 0.15 Amperes
  • Will Operate on Code 50 Through Code 55 Track on 9 ¾” Radius Curves and #4 Turnouts
  • 8-Wheel Drive & Electrical Pick-Up from Locomotive Drivers and Tender Wheels
  • 5-Pole Skew-Wound Balanced Armature
  • Precisely-Meshed Worm Gear and Spur Teeth
  • Meets all NMRA Standards
DCC Information: This model does not have provision for an easy DCC install.
An example of DCC conversion is available on the North Raleigh Model Railroad Club web site.
Prototype History:
Under the Whyte notation, a 2-8-4 is a steam locomotive that has one unpowered leading axle, usually in a leading truck, followed by four powered and coupled driving axles, and two unpowered trailing axles, usually mounted in a bogie. This locomotive type is most often referred to as a Berkshire, though the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway used the name Kanawha for their 2-8-4s. In Europe, this wheel arrangement was mostly seen in mainline passenger express locomotives and, in certain countries, in tank locomotives. Locomotives of a 2-8-4 wheel arrangement were used mainly for hauling fast express freight trains on heavy freight service. They often replaced older 2-8-2 Mikados where more power was required. In turn, they were often replaced by even more powerful 2-10-4 Texas type locomotives.

In the USA, the Berkshire type's big boost came in 1934, when the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road or NKP) received its first 2-8-4s, built to a new design from the Advisory Mechanical Committee (AMC) of the Van Sweringen empire. Under the Van Sweringen umbrella were the Nickel Plate Road, Erie Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and Pere Marquette Railway.

From Wikipedia
Read more on American-Rails.com
Road Name History:
The Virginian Railway (VGN) was conceived early in the 20th century by two men. One was a brilliant civil engineer, coal mining manager, and entrepreneur, William Nelson Page. His partner was millionaire industrialist, Henry Huttleston Rogers. Together, they built a well-engineered railroad that was virtually a "conveyor belt on rails" to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port on Hampton Roads, near Norfolk, Virginia.

The Virginian Railway Company was formed in Virginia on March 8, 1907 to combine the Deepwater Railway in West Virginia and the Tidewater Railway in Virginia into a single interstate railroad, only a few months after Victoria was incorporated. On April 15, 1907, William Nelson Page became the first president of the new Virginian Railway.

Throughout that profitable 50-year history, the VGN continued to follow the Page-Rogers policy of "paying up front for the best." It became particularly well known for treating its employees and vendors well, another investment that paid rich dividends. The VGN sought (and achieved) best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont and flat tidewater terrain. The profitable VGN experimented with the finest and largest steam, electric, and diesel locomotives. It was well known for operating the largest and best equipment, and could afford to. It became nicknamed "the richest little railroad in the world."

Norfolk & Western Railway and Virginian Railway merged in 1959.
Brand/Importer Information:
Life-Like Products LLC (now Life-Like Toy and Hobby division of Wm. K. Walthers) was a manufacturer of model railroad products and was based in Baltimore, Maryland.

It was founded in the 1950s by a company that pioneered extruded foam ice chests under the Lifoam trademark. Because ice chests are a summer seasonal item, the company needed a way to keep the factory operating year round. As model railroading was becoming popular in the post-war years, they saw this as an opportunity and so manufactured extruded foam tunnels for model trains. Over the years, Life-Like expanded into other scenery items, finally manufacturing rolling stock beginning in the late 1960s. At some point in the early 1970s, Life-Like purchased Varney Inc. and began to produce the former Varney line as its own.

The Canadian distributor for Life-Like products, Canadian Hobbycraft, saw a missing segment in market for Canadian model prototypes, and started producing a few Canadian models that were later, with a few modifications, offered in the US market with US roadnames.

In 2005, the company, now known as Lifoam Industries, LLC, decided to concentrate on their core products of extruded foam and sold their model railroad operations to Wm. K. Walthers.

In June 2018, Atlas and Walthers announced to have reached an agreement under which all Walthers N scale rolling stock tooling, including the former Life-Like tooling, will be purchased by Atlas.

Read more on Wikipedia and The Train Collectors Association.
Item created by: Alain LM on 2019-04-17 15:33:37. Last edited by Alain LM on 2020-10-14 04:06:49

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